Vanhoenacker and Hutthaler bike away in Luxembourg

The 2012 IRONMAN European champion and seven-time IRONMAN Austria winner didn’t have a good swim, but took the lead at the halfway point of the bike. In the water, defending champion Axel Zeebroek (BEL) set the pace together with Switzerland’s Manuel Kueng. Zeebroek exited the water in 22:59 minutes at the front of a group of six that included German Nils Frommhold.

On the bike only Frommhold and Zeebroek were able to keep contact when Vanhoenacker passed the leaders and trailed by 20 seconds with 20 km to go. Vanhoenacker had the fastest bike split of the day in 2:08:03 and led by 1:15. The German made up a minute over the first 10 kilometers, but Vanhoenacker held on to take the title in 3:47:47. Frommhold had the best run split (1:12:01) to finish in 3:49:05. Defending champion Zeebroek ran into third in 3:51:51.

Hütthaler tunes up

Lisa Hütthaler had a perfect test race for her IRONMAN debut next Sunday at IRONMAN Austria in Klagenfurt. After winning in Mallorca and St. Poelten earlier this year, the 30-year old was in third place after the swim (27:54) and then dominated the bike. By 30 km Switzerland’s swim leader, Céline Schärer (24:25) and Lucie Zelenkova Reed (26:12) were passed by the Austrian. Hütthaler had an incredible 2:24:10 bike split, which put her 6:11 ahead of Schärer and Britain’s Susie Hignett. Hütthaler’s 4:17:03 ensured her third IRONMAN 70.3 win of 2014 ahead of Hignett (4:18:40) and the day’s fastest runner, Britain’s Alice Hector (1:17:17).